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The optimal management of pulmonary disease caused by Mycobacterium abscessus — an inherently drug-resistant organism — remains unclear. Current recommendations involve the use of multiple antibiotics, with or without surgery. To compare these treatment options, investigators retrospectively reviewed outcomes of adults who were referred to National Jewish Health between 2001 and 2004 and met American Thoracic Society criteria for M. abscessus pulmonary infection. These 107 patients were predominantly thin women who had never smoked (mean age, 60).
Follow-up data were available for 69 of the patients. Twenty-three received both medical therapy and pulmonary surgery, and 46 (many of whom were not offered surgery because of extensive disease) r…